Background: China
is the world´s largest tobacco producer and consumer, in recent years has
become the world´s largest producer of e-cigarette. According to media reports, China-made
e-cigarette is mainly exported to foreign countries, and e-cigarette are not
popular in China, but such conclusions need support from surveillance data.

Methods: Data
of 2015 China Adult Tobacco Survey (CATS) and International Tobacco Control
Policy Evaluation Project China Survey (ITC China Survey) were analyzed to
describe rate of awareness and prevalence on e-cigarette. 2015 CATS is a
nationally representative cross-sectional survey of adults aged 15 and over. ITC
China survey is a cohort study designed to measure the impact of tobacco
control policies on tobacco users over time. Between 2006 and 2015, five survey
waves were conducted among a cohort of adult smokers and non-smokers in China.

Results: The
CATS found that 40.5% of adults had heard of e-cigarette and 3.1% of adults had
ever tried e-cigarette, these two rates are higher among male, urban, young and
educated groups. Only 0.5% of adults reported using e-cigarette currently, but
most of them are occasional users. ITC China survey revealed that the percentage
of smokers who had ever heard of e-cigarette went up from 29% (wave 3, 2009) to
60% (wave5, 2014). Similarly, percentage of smokers who had ever tried
e-cigarette went up from 2% (wave3, 2009) to 11% (wave5, 2014). Among smokers
who had tried e-cigarette at Wave 5, only 8% reported they were using
currently.

Conclusions: Although
rate of current e-cigarette use is relatively low, attention should be paid to
the fact that rate of awareness and ever tried use were going up among smokers.
E-cigarette prevalence indicators should be included in tobacco use monitoring
system, and more researches need be conducted to understand the characteristics
of the population using e-cigarette.